Well, I'm back again with hopefully another good chapter in tow. I hope to say, Happy Mother's day by the time this comes out and hope that everyone and their families can rest easy knowing that I finally updated and RoosterTeethfinally posted "let's play Monopoly, Part 2"

I don't own any of this except the story, my OC, and my winning personality.

Everything else goes to RoosterTeeth.

Carolina's room

Carolina sighed as she stormed into her room, throwing her helmet down. To say she was frustrated would be a grave understatement. Carolina had been through more mental torture in the last week then in the last couple of months on the Mother of Invention.

After the last presentation, Kale had bolted and left to find Wash, looking panicked. Of course, without him present nobody could access the DVDs. She and the other Freelancers were left to their own devices, including the Director who she noticed looking...different. He seemed to have more emotion on his face then usual which for the Director at least was a first or at the very least rare.

They had of course speculated what was going to happen, like a bunch of fans discussing the next capture the flag game that was happening at command.

"Stupid York..." She muttered, rubbing her head at the memory of his questions to get rich quick with Grifball results.

Then there were the random power malfunctions around the ship. Some in seemingly random locations from the break room and from some of the engines. She even heard that 479er lost her room's electricity...needless to say, she heard the death threats from her room.

It was all because of Kale.

That little idiot somehow wormed his way onto this ship and shrugged it off like it was a damn joke?! He made her friend, the tough and strong freelancer South into a flying hurricane of rage. The opposite could be said for Wash...The poor guy had been turned into a wreck of his former self-...wait...

Kale looked at York, nervousness clear in his tone of voice. "That, I think I can answer but I might have to be a bit vague. Washington was registered article 12 after an accident that happened here at Project Freelancer."

Could he have been the one to have done this to Wash?...It made sense. His coming on the ship had been accidental...was that son of a bitch just playing them?! If he was playing them for saps, Kale was doing a damn good job of it. So far the idiot had managed to not die on the ship, which was a feat of itself with security but he wormed his god damn room in here? How does somebody even do that? It's impossible! It defies all known laws of the universe.

"Carolina?" She whipped around and pointed the pistol that she always kept at her side at the intruder. It was York, out of his armour for a change. Carolina scowled and holstered the gun to her side.

"What do you need York? I'm really not in the mood for jokes." She said roughly. York's eyebrows rose, but he didn't comment. He sighed and walked in, keeping at a safe distance.

"We need to talk Carolina." He said softly, concern clear in his eyes. She stopped him with a wave of her hand.

"There's nothing to talk about, York." He rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes for a moment.

"It's about what's been going on lately." She looked at him a stern look on her face.

...

"Fine." She spat through clenched teeth.

He walked farther in, looking around a little bit. Carolina's room hadn't been decorated that much from when they had been assigned the rooms in the first place. She still had the regular bed and couch and some dog tags on her bedside. Hefelt saddened at the dog tags. She never could let anything go...

"Well?" She said, arms crossed, her temper flared as she caught York staring into space.

"I don't think that...maybe we aren't giving Kale a fair chance. I mean...from what I heard from North, South was doing a lot better. Still haven't heard anything from Wash but from what I heard from Counselor, he's doing fine." Carolina scowled and started to put her helmet back on.

"York, I don't want that little idiot on this ship at all. If you want to throw a pity party for the kid go for it." She locked the helmet on, a cold glare under it. "I won't have any part of it." She started to go for the doorway, scowling behind her visor.

"But Carolina!-" Whatever he was saying was cut off as she pushed her way past him.

He balled his fists and tried to look her straight in the face. Everyone does deserve a second chance...hell even he had gotten one.

Before Project Freelancer, he was just a petty (but good looking) criminal. He had gotten by on breaking into old shops and apartments in his neighbourhood. He could crack the locks on the door faster than mice could eat cheese. Of course, he felt bad for stealing but it was the only way to make a living for him.

Then along came Carolina.

One night as he went into a semi popular nightclub, his friends ditched him at the bar alone. He pulled out a lighter he had purchased and kept flicking it on and off. Maybe it signified the dying light inside him? If it did, then Carolina blew that light right out of his hands.

There she was in all her actual beauty. Carolina out of armorand in a skirt? York would pay anything for that right now. She asked him if he was the one she was looking for. He of course, responded with a cheesy pickup line...something like:

"Oh yeah, I'm the one every ladies looking fo-ow!" Oh yeah,she had punched him in the gut before he got finished with it.

She told him that she was putting together a military group of the finest soldiers in the universe. He of course asked the question on everyone's mind. Why him? She smirked and looked over at a nearby police officer who was staring at an arrest warrant. York had clearly seen his face on it. He had turned back to a smirking Carolina. A clean slate was the deal. He fought for her cause and his record was wiped clean. A fresh start.

That's what kept him around...at first. Then the project started to change him for the better. He grew stronger, faster, smarterand not to mention, the food was good. His moral consciencegot better and he wanted to continue to do some good. He worked his way through the ranks and finally met Carolina again. But she had changed just as much as York. She was colder than before and didn't have that friendly "I'm going to light up your world smile" anymore. She instead wore a stone faced look that said "Give me 300 push-ups or your ass is plastered on the wall."

The girl he loved and still did love was in a bad way...and there was nothing he could do.

Little did he know, Carolina was planning to jump Kale. They were going to have a little march to the airlock and if he didn't give her answers, he would be taking a spacewalk, without armour!

Kale's room

Kale flung his door open and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Ok Kale, don't panic, don't panic!" He started to pace around his room in a clear state of panic. "Alpha's missing, South and Wash are wrecked; I'm going to airlock central unless I can convince Carolina to not kill me!"

He went over to his DVD rack and looked over it. "Ok Kale, just calm down..." He took in a deep breath and smiled as he found what he was looking for: The Nightmare BeforeChristmas on Blue-Ray. "Jack, if you can't calm my nerves, then nothing will." He took the case out and shoved the disk in the DVD player.

He slouched over to his bed and started up the movie, letting his mind drift. Why the hell was this crap happening to him?He thought sadly. He sighed as the movie played out in front of him, the sadness in him beginning to lessen.

As his thoughts and emotions faded out of existence, he hearda light tapping at the door. He raised an eyebrow and looked at it strangely. Nobody really ever knocked on his door before. "Uh..Come on in... I guess."

The door opened to reveal C.T out of armour, smiling at him.

"Hey Kale, mind if I come in?" Kale rubbed his eyes and waved a hand at her.

"Look C.T, I really don't think I can handle a decent conversation right now so I think I just need to be alone." She frowned and closed the door, walking in anyway."Freelancers!" Kale mentally sighed.

"You seemed really stressed getting out of the watching tonight." She walked over to the end of his bed and sat down. "What's up? Is it the DVD's, or something else?" He groaned and cracked his neck.

"In all honesty C.T, I really am at a loss of what to do right now." He closed his eyes and leaned his head on his pillow. "I mean, there are so many things right now against me and I'm not sure if I'm going to come out alright." She looked at the boy and fiddled with her hair.

"Well...you do know I am a soldier for Project Freelancer,Kale. I can handle most of the things that come my way. If you need anything to get off your chest...I'm here."

He bit the inside of his cheek. He wanted to tell someone, anyone on the ship what he knew. With all the guilt going up inside him...what kind of person would he be if he couldn't change anything and let them all die? He locked eyes with C.T and shook his head in defeat.

"Fine." He said a bit meekly.

Her face seemed to light up at those words. Kale sighed andgrabs the T.V remote and lowered the volume.

"So?" C.T said, her voice letting out a bit of an excited tone.

"Well...I'm being executed by Carolina via airlock, I think I might have given Wash serious brain damage and I just got interrupted in the middle of one of the best movies of all time." He suddenly cried out, looking terrified.

Her mouth dropped open a fraction and she blinked.

"Carolina's going to...to throw...back up, what happened with you two?" He groaned and started to recount his deadly encounter with the Freelancer. As he went through it her face shifted through some changes, from shock, anger, and pity.

"So now I have to give Carolina a reason to not launch me or I'm dead!" He finished, breathing in and out deeply.

"First Kale, you need to calm down, panicking won't solve anything." He turned over to her with a glare.

"I'm not panicking C.T, I'm just not being very calm." He rubbed his temples and tossed his hands in the air. "I've got nothing to give Carolina and honestly..." He shook his head and put his hands back on his face. Kale didn't answer for awhile, he just sat there. C.T carefully grabbed his shoulder and tightened her hold, forcing him to look at her.

"Honestly what?...Kale?" She spoke softly, some concern in her eyes as he started to shake. He quickly tried to wipe the falling tears away from his eyes but failed. His eyes were red and puffy as he looked over and croaked out.

"I'm scared."

C.T looked at the crying boy and wrapped him in a hug. "It's okay to be scared."

North's room

North sighed as he looked at the picture of him and his sister. He was all alone in his grey t-shirt with black p-j pants and on his couch laid a picture of him, South, mom and dad. He smiled and touched the corners of the frame.

The picture was taken when they were just kids but you still could tell who was who. South held a mischievous grin, North held a shy smile, his mother, in between the two with arms around them, held a perfect white teeth smirk and his father held the air of the confident man that had raised two of the most troublesome kids ever.

The reason he was looking at the photo was because...he needed some comfort. His sister had almost pulled an article 12 on him and went crazy, almost killing someone onboard!

"That temper, South..." He shook his head and put the picture down.

He grimaced as he remembered the infuriated look on the Director's face when they had seen the incident. He could hear the screams from the break room and came running and almost froze at the horror at the scene. Things were already tense between them...if she got thrown out of the project...the bonds might snap.

When they were kids, it was almost like a never-ending contest. South won 1st place in the School spelling bee, Northwon 1st in state. North won first place in his high school golf tourney, South won state MMA Boxing trophy.

When people brought one of the twins up, they always brought up the other. This was a pet peeve that South had andshowed it from time to time. In some weird way, it irked North in the same way. Only thing was, he got over it. They were twins; it was only natural they be compared. Only in South's mind it was different.

In her mind, she HAD to win at everything, do everything first and do it better than him. This was the reason that she joined the military at age 19 and pretty much disconnected from him. They still sent brief letters to each other but nothingtoo special.

For the next few months, things were quiet around town. North got a job at a high ranking computer company after a lot of trying and hard work. This is where Project Freelancer had found him. North still being a young idiot of 25, accepted a bet from a friend to see if he could crack one of the high ranking fire-walls in the system's computers. The one he cracked was a top secret government file for a certain Project Freelancer.

He was fired from his job and as he walked into the lobby with his office supplies, he had the pleasure of meeting the man sent to collect him. He now knew him by the nameCounselor. He explained the project to him and they wanted his skill set to help them with hackers, recon and if he wanted to, be a field agent.

He shook the counselor's hand and accepted the job on one condition. It was a package deal for him. They wanted him;they had to take South in too. No exceptions. To his knowledge, South had no idea he was the one that set her up for this job. He wasn't sure if she would thank him or punch him in the face.

So they had a very emotional reunion of a good hug andcongratulations from both twins.

He turned his head as he heard his door open up behind him. It was South, snivelling, red eyes but still holding that confident posture.

"H-hey North." He smiled lightly and got off the bed.

"Hey South...you seem to be in a better mood than usual." She showed a wavy smirk at the joke.

"S-shut up."

She came over to the brother and hugged him tight.

The Director's office

The Director looked at the void of space from the centre of his office. He, in his leather chair, watched the ever-growing universe from a hologram in his computer. It didn't matter to him at the moment. He was worried about the ever continuing problems he faced and would be an obstacle in his project.

But he was close...so close to his goal now! But he needed to defuse the situation on the ship before doing anything further. Kale had been the definition of a wild card to him. He couldn't predict his movements and he was very good at keeping secrets. In the wrong hands, he could be a very dangerous weapon.

The wealth of knowledge he held was more dangerous than any nuke, atom bomb, or gun in the universe. He needed to be kept close until he could figure out a plan of action.

"Alpha, online if you please. We have work to do." The blue hologram appeared with a groan.

"Not so loud...Christ, it feels like I have a hangover. Is that even possible, for an artificial computer program to get a hangover?" The Director said nothing as he pulled up theleaderboard.

"Alpha, how are the new armour prototypes coming along." Alpha flickered for a moment before becoming stable.

"Well, with the new Maine situation, I had to scrap his newarmour and get it delayed for reforming. Good news is the new A.I compartment has been checked and is ready for testing." The Director stared at the program for awhile.

"Alpha if you would, I would like you to test the suit's capabilities." He tapped the computer and brought up a new screen with a picture of the prototypes. "The equipment we are to be testing had a...tendency to malfunction. But I believe under the care of an A.I, the equipment can be used correctly." Alpha looked around and pulled up another screen.

"What about Agent Washington? He has an EMP equipment and he doesn't use one." The Director sighed and rubbed his forehead. "His equipment requires minimal power and kills any electronic equipment near him. Including you." Alpha took a few paces back.

"Alright then, no Washington. Ever. I'm serious. Don't ever try and put me near his armour. Ever! So. Who do you want to have me? Carolina? She is at the top of the leaderboard and with me-" He was stopped with a wave of the Director's hand.

"Agent Carolina does not require an A.I for that very reason. She has done well enough without one in the past and will only get better in the future."

"Well then, who? I mean, I know I'm a popular guy and all but there is only one Alpha." He waved the leaderboard away with his left hand and pulled up another with his right.

"Alpha, I have an idea but for it to work I need you to call in some extra security." He started to scroll through the list. "Call agents... Florida and California to our security roster and pick them up at our next stop." Alpha groaned at the extra work, pulling in two more freelancers but complied.

"Okay, the messages have been sent and I am arranging transport for the two." The Director nodded with a firm look.

"Good work Alpha, you may go offline now." Alpha sighedand complied, very content that he could take a break. He was finding it more and more difficult to concentrate on running the ship lately. What was happening to him? He felt like he was missing something. Something he couldn't quite remember. He needed to ask Kale. He quickly passed through the ship, heading for Kale's room.

The Director went back to the ever growing universe screen that he was looking at before.

"Not a star or planet or even the universe compares to you, my love...we will meet again soon." He smiled and wiped a small tear going down his cheek.

"I promise you that much... Allison."

Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I am happy to announce the winner of the contest:

HeartlessCrimson.

With his choice of the quote of the week!

This quote comes from hot feet where Gavin makes a little bit of a spelling error.

Gavin: Oh my god, this is tense. This is tense. This is T A N...

Laughter ensues.

Ray: What was it?

Michael: This is T.A.N. tense.

Hope you guys will wait again for the next chapter cause at the rate of my updates it will be in the next 10 years.